The idea educators (i.e., teachers) can exist without administrators in academia is an intelligible notion. First, given the prevalent cutbacks in academia since the economic downturn of 2008, many educators now perform new administrative duties not previously required. In some cases, educators have the duty to justify their existence within academia to administrators; this process of justification is itself an administrative duty. Full time educators (i.e., teachers) have required administrative tasks that make up the other half of their full-time job descriptions. Finally, I’ve been told that the way to make the move from educator to administrator is to be a hired full-time educator who takes on more academic administrative issues. So, in addition to the idea being true in principle, educators performing administrative duties is something that already exists in fact.

Second, one can imagine an academic community of educators whose members perform any administrative needs that the community may have for its existence. In this case, the existence of administrative roles in academia is superfluous. However, the converse isn’t the case. One can’t imagine the existence of administrators in academia without presupposing first the existence of educators. The idea of educator is essential to the idea of academia.

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I don’t know why the above observation of metaphysical dependence gave rise to the following questions, but it did:

1. Question One: “In fact, how often do administrators (who used to be educators) still teach?”

2. Question Two: “In fact, how many classes are taught by administrators before going into their administrative roles in a full time capacity?”

3. Question Three: “In fact, of those administrators who still teach regularly as adjuncts, what is the regularity of their yearly FTE and the course titles taught?”